New Delhi: He was at Hotel Lanka Oberoi during the Sri Lanka insurgency, in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War and in Mumbai’s Oberoi during 26/11—Rattan Keswani had a penchant for landing dangerous, potentially life-threatening assignments.
But he is no soldier or war reporter. He is a keeper of secrets. A long-time Oberoi hotelier, Keswani has seen too much and knows too much. It’s now all in his new book Check in Never Check Out.
“Nothing gets out from The Oberoi,” declared Keswani. He had an employee, aghast by what was going on behind closed doors at the hotel. “We are not a church. We do not give sermons,” he firmly told her. Their job was to be hospitable, not to pass judgement.
It wasn’t all violence and terrorism though. At an intimate discussion at The Oberoi in Delhi, surrounded by stalwarts and novices alike, Keswani also recounted moments of laughter, kindness, and unabashed adventure. He smuggled in Old Monk rum during his training, because he “knew nothing about F&B [food and beverage].”
There is a degree of allure associated with the hotel industry, particularly with luxury chains like The Oberoi. Audience members were keen to know about clandestine affairs and secret scandals.
Between the hundreds of staff members that make up a hotel, there are secrets. Rumours of hotels being haunted are part of popular lore and are quietly whispered by employees. “A ghost slapped me,” an employee once informed Keswani. The lift shakes every night precisely at 2:37 am. Ghosts are playing table tennis at the hotel. Some of these mysteries were attributed to mundane conclusions, like rusted pipes. But some remain.
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A seasoned storyteller
Keswani was in conversation with journalist turned screenwriter Advaita Kala, also previously part of the hotel world. She obtained her degree in hotel management from The Oberoi Centre of Learning and Development. As the duo swapped anecdotes, the audience — many of whom were familiar with the rather specific antics — were in splits.
But there was a tinge of seriousness hanging over Nilgiri, one of the banquet halls in The Oberoi, New Delhi. The legacy of 26/11 still lingers. Keswani reached the hotel about four hours after the attacks had broken out. “It wasn’t about the country, it wasn’t about the army. It felt like my home had been defiled,” said the veteran, his stark white hair gleaming under the bright lights.
In a part of the hotel, where guests were trapped, the lights went off. Keswani insisted on going up to check what was going on. He was ordered by the senior establishment: “stop being a Rambo.”
He heard the daughter of an acquaintance, stuck in one of the restaurants, sequestered by dead bodies, “whimpering to her death.” He informed the officers on screen but they said they couldn’t help due to “protocol”.
Dilnaz, a hostess at the hotel, who according to Keswani, was known by the entire city, was injured in the violence. She insisted on being discharged from the hospital and returned to help. Keswani asked himself repeatedly, what would prompt someone to do that? To leave worried family and friends and return to service.
The hotelier, who also worked with the Lemon Tree chain, narrated such instances — of rare bravery and heroic acts of service — akin to those performed by soldiers, with the flair of a seasoned storyteller. His biggest skill, he said, was his ability to tell stories. It was what pushed him into writing Check in Never Check Out.
“Hoteliers only know one song,” he joked. The title of the book is a play on The Eagles’ Hotel California. Decades of memories, histories and stories, cocooned by a (relatively thin) memoir.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)